Vanden Avond, Larson Pace St. Norbert to Rout of Ripon

DE PERE - St. Norbert College got three goals from Katie Vanden Avond and two more from Katherine Larson to lead the Green Knights to a 5-2 Midwest Conference win over Ripon College at Kolstad Field at Schneider Stadium.

The Green Knights improved to 5-3-1 overall and 2-0-1 in the MWC, while the Red Hawks dropped to 3-6, 1-1.

Ripon took an early 1-0 lead when Brandi Peltier scored on a breakaway at the 16 minutes 19 seconds mark. The Green Knights tied it at 1-1 at 22:15 when Vanden Avond got loose behind the defense for her tenth goal of the year.

Larson then scored at 35:17 to give the Green Knights a 2-1 halftime lead. Larson, who now has six goals on the year, made it 3-1 when she scored at 48:57.

Vanden Avond boosted her season goals total to 12 with consecutive goals. Vanden Avond scored at 64:31 when she beat Ripon goaltender Lexi Soich on a shot between her legs. Vanden Avond then scored 1-on-1 at 74:19 to give her a third hat trick this season.

Peltier closed out the scoring at 92:02 with her 14th goal of the season.

St. Norbert outshot Ripon 20-8 and also held a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks. Sarah Platzer made four saves for the Green Knights, while Soich made 10 stops for the Red Hawks.